Originally Posted by rfrost (Post 18909168)

I arrived at the T5 Immigration Hall around 7:35 am midweek last week. Headed for the Fast Track lane (there was a sizeable queue in the Slow Track non-EU lane), but was shunted off to a FT holding pen. As my prior FT entry a couple of weeks earlier had been relatively painless, I couldn't believe this was FT and asked if it really was. The staffer had the grace to look embarassed. It took me a few minutes to even find the entrance to the pen due to its poor placement smack dab in the midst of the entering hordes--finally someone opened a rope for me. There must have been 50+ people in the queue. Okay, but the queue wasn't moving, until, after 5 or 6 minutes, they let 4 people go stand in another queue and we inched forward. Seemed like a big waste of an FT pass and the inertia was bothering me, so I went into the "regular" line, which was moving regularly. Took just under an hour, but I felt like I was progressing the entire time. To be fair, the FT holding pen cleared out within 40 minutes, so I could presumably have saved myself 15-20 minutes, but as I see no signs of improvement in the process I'm just as glad I saved the FT pass, which I'll horde to use sometime when I'm coming off WT+ and there's no holding pen for FT.

Originally Posted by 45128 (Post 18911834)

I know some Flyer Talk members, adorned with all their frequent flyer "honours" like so many Ruritanian generals, seem to think that God sits at their right hand, but RFrost should thank Providence that she won in the lottery of life and does not have to go through a very similar procedure when entering the United States - especially at the airports serving New York.

I am not saying that what happened to RFrost is necessarily right, but she should learn to take in the larger picture instead of complaining as she did. It will reduce her blood pressure no end, and enable her to enjoy a far better quality of life.

Originally Posted by T8191 (Post 18910198)

At IAD I've had anything from <5 minutes to >60 minutes. Typically <30 these days, on the BA217 arrival at 1300-ish.
Depends on which International flight gets to Immigration first!

At LHR, on a UK chipped passport at 06**, never more than 10 mins and usually <5.

Originally Posted by LTN Phobia (Post 18912276)

Wouldn't we complain if we had to queue for 40 minutes to check in for a flight?

Originally Posted by exilencfc (Post 18912535)

Lat time I went to the USA (admittedly in March) I got out of EWR faster than I got out of Heathrow. OK the US system recognised me and I didn't have to go through the full fingerprinting etc but that doesn't change the fact that the line was shorter and faster moving.

Originally Posted by squeeler (Post 18919319)

To follow on from Globaliser, I was in a huge hurry in T5 this morning (combination of taxi no-show and the M25) having to have my passport checked. It was great to be able to go to the F area. Even the CW queues were long, and the economy ones looked to be of the <30 mins variety.
Incidentally, if any American complaints about Heathrow immigration, refer them to Newark at 1 pm today. 2 hours to get through, snaking queue about 80 yards long, with 8 loops. Approx 8 booths of a total 60 manned. And what gives the right to fat, black, big haired women in tight red waistcoats the right to yell at all and sundry? And what possible threat or danger is using a phone in the immigration area? Hmmm....

Originally Posted by oxtailsoup (Post 18910568)

I will be arriving into T5 from JNB and then transferring to a domestic BA flight to MAN.

Is this a different route through passport control at T5 and how does it compare queue wise ?

Originally Posted by CatchThePigeon (Post 18920862)

comfortable shoes ;)

Originally Posted by Boraxo (Post 18904207)

You are suggesting that the UK use the CBP wait times in the USA as a benchmark? I am sure that will go over quite well. The fact that somebody does something worse than you does not mean you are doing it right. Especially when EU countries next door (who compete for your business) do it so much better.

FYI the lines at US airports are often just as long for US citizens - I've sometimes seen CBP shift citizens to the non-US line and vice versa (something you don't see much at LHR). Of course I don't wait in line any more thanks to Global Entry - you would think that could be linked with the UK Iris scan (as we have done with the Dutch) but that would require us to find a needle in the haystack, i.e. somebody in government who actually cares about efficiency.

Honestly I think the whole exercise is a waste of time. If some terrorist or economic immigrants really wants to get into the country there are many ways to do it. The # that come through airports is pretty low (and the # that get admitted anyway is pretty high). Better to redeploy scarce resources to more efficient endeavours and reduce aggravation for everyone.

Originally Posted by stifle (Post 18941555)

I agree with you. The official UK reasoning for it is to detect cancelled, stolen, and forged passports.